Rhode Island's
attorney general said his opinion this week advising his
state to recognize same-sex marriages performed in
Massachusetts had nothing to do with his sister's
wedding to her partner there days earlier. Atty. Gen.
Patrick Lynch said the advisory opinion, which is not
binding, was issued in response to a question from a state
agency and was based on legal research.
''No disrespect
to my sister, who I love very much, but it has zero
impact on it,'' he said.
In Wednesday's
opinion Lynch said there was no strong reason for Rhode
Island to deny recognition to same-sex marriages performed
in Massachusetts because Rhode Island does not have a
law banning such unions. The opinion came a week after
Lynch attended the February 15 wedding of his sister
Margaret Lynch-Gadaleta and her partner of 18 years in
Attleboro, Mass.
Lynch-Gadaleta,
the Pawtucket city solicitor, said she did not believe
her brother was influenced by her partnership.
The opinion
answered a question from the Board of Governors for Higher
Education over a request by gay employees in the state
college system to have their files changed to reflect
their marriages in Massachusetts. Steve Maurano, a
spokesman for the Board of Governors, which oversees
higher education in Rhode Island, said the board intends to
follow Lynch's advice.
Massachusetts is
the only state where same-sex marriage is legal. New
Jersey, Vermont, and Connecticut offer civil unions, which
offer many of the protections and benefits of marriage
without the title, and California offers domestic
partnerships with similar benefits. (AP)
